Phishing Scams

The following are current fraudulent phishing scams that you should not respond to, and alert the credit union if you receive:

Fraud Alert – 7/6/2010

The most recent scam is claiming to be from the FDIC and could easily be spun to appear as if it is coming from NCUA as well.

E-mail Claiming to Be From the FDIC – July 2, 2010

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of a fraudulent e-mail that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. The subject line of the e-mails state: "you need to check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage." The e-mail tells recipients that, "You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets." The e-mail then directs recipients to click on a link stating "You need to visit the official FDIC website and perform the following steps to check your Deposit Insurance Coverage."

This e-mail and associated Web site are fraudulent. Recipients should consider the intent of this e-mail as an attempt to collect personal or confidential information or to load malicious software onto end users' computers and should not click on the link

provided.

The FDIC does not issue unsolicited e-mails to consumers. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT follow the link in the fraudulent e-mail.

NCUA warns of fraudulent e-mail activity

May 26, 2010 – NCUA yesterday said e-mails from simulated NCUA e-mail boxes to members of credit unions may be an attempt to obtain members’ confidential data.

The e-mails solicit credit union members’ participation in an online survey or member survey and promise compensation of $40 for responding. “The emails are fraudulent,” NCUA said. “NCUA does not solicit such information from credit union members. This is a phishing activity with no NCUA activity or approval.”

Anthony Demangone, NAFCU’s director of regulatory compliance, reminds credit unions of agency rules on the protection of member data.

“NCUA’s security regulation requires credit unions to take reasonable precautions to protect their members’ sensitive information,” he said. “With that in mind, credit unions might consider alerting members to this scam and others in newsletters, branch signage, blogs or Twitter feeds.”

NCUA said anyone receiving these phishing e-mails should not respond to them. Questions can be sent to NCUA at pacamail@ncua.gov.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL DEBIT/ATM CARDHOLDERS!

Recently we have had a number of members call in and say they received a call or text message on their cell phone stating that “their ATM or debit card has been blocked and they cannot do any transactions on it unless they press 1 to reactivate your card or to call back a toll free number”. If you press 1 or call back the toll free number, you are asked to input your sixteen digit card number and your PIN. DO NOT DO THIS. This is a scam to get your card numbers.

If you did receive this call and gave your card number by pressing 1 or calling back the toll free number, contact us immediately so we can protect your account. During regular business hours, please call CGFCU at 518-828-5216. After hours please call 1-800-682-6075 to block your card.

Here is what is happening: When you get a call you may see that the call is coming from 1-843-884-6884, or you may see 347, 999-304 or some other unidentified number. The fraudster is spoofing that number which means he makes it look like the number that is calling you is a company. Actually they are calling from a different unknown number.

How did they get your cell number? They are doing something called “war dialing”. The fraudster starts with a local area code and a local exchange and randomly generates the last four digits to create a phone number to call or text. Then they take the batch of phone numbers they have compiled and send out mass calls. This is called a major vishing scheme and is affecting other financial institutions both locally and nationwide. For example: people who do not even have a debit card are receiving these calls or you may receive a call identifying a financial institution you don’t even do business with.

Note: Any call that asks you to input your PIN or card number is not a legitimate call. Columbia-Greene Federal Credit Union will never ask you to input your card number and PIN via phone, text message or in an e mail.

Your Credit Union is constantly working to protect you and your accounts from these types of scams.

WARNING - DO NOT RESPOND TO AN EMAIL THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

More For Your Security

Vishing Scams
Identity Theft
Prevent Identity Theft
Report Lost/Stolen Card
Protecting Your Privacy
Fraud Protection
Alerts